Hostess Brands did not receive any offer from other parties to buy Twinkies. As a result, the bankrupt company will pursue its plan to sell the brand to the joint venture of private equity firms Apollo Global Management and C. Dean Metropoulos & Company for $410 million.
The $410 million proposal of the joint venture served as the base of an auction process for other entities interested in acquiring the Twinkies brand. Greg Rayburn, CEO of Hostess Brands previously predicted that the auctions process would be “wild and wooly” as numerous companies expressed interest in the brand.
Based on the filing of submitted by Hostess Brands with the United States bankruptcy court, the company did not receive qualified offers to buy Twinkies until the deadline of the bidding process, therefore there will be no auction.
Hostess Brands also cancelled the auction for its Wonder Bread and other major bread brands because it did not receive other competing proposals. Last January, the company identified the Flowers Group as the primary bidder for its Wonder Bread brand.
Hostess Brands named McKee Foods Corporation as the leading bidder for its Drakes cakes brands, which include Devil Dogs, Yodels, and Ring Dings. The deadline for other parties to submit their proposal to purchase the Drakes cakes brands is on Tuesday. An auction for the brand will be held on Friday.
The bankruptcy court is scheduled to approve the final sales of the bread and snack cakes brands on March 19.
According to the Miami Herald, the spokesperson of Hostess Brands said the company has no comment regarding the lack of other bidders willing to buy Twinkies at a competitive price. Representatives from Apollo Global Management declined to comment on the issue and on the question as to when the Hostess cakes would be available again in the market. On the other hand, representatives from Metropoulous did not immediately respond to the request for comments from media.
Last November, Hostess Brands asked the bankruptcy court to approve the shutdown of its operations after the workers of the company went on a strike, which affected 70 percent of its production.
